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Narrative Inquiry: Online-First Articles

Narratives of stressful and traumatic personal experience disclosed by students with mental health conditions in medical consultations

ORCID logo | Nicolaus Copernicus University
This paper advances the field of narratives by focusing on the narratives of personal experience disclosed by students with mental health conditions, in particular depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder, in medical consultations. I draw on sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic approaches to the analysis of narratives in interaction, viewing language as a tool for constructing social reality, and examine the content, structural properties and functions of the stories (Labov & Waletzky, 1967; De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2011). Engaging in self-disclosure and sharing stories of stressful and traumatic experience in medical consultations allows the students (1) to explain symptoms and interpret causes of their current health problems, (2) manage accountability, and (3) confront and cope with their painful experience and stigma.
Keywords: narratives of personal experience, Labovian model of narrative, mental illness, stigma, self-disclosure, illness narratives, medical consultations, Chile, university students, discourse analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Narrative in the context of invisible symptoms and mental conditions
    • 1.2Background
  • 2.Data and method
  • 3.Analysis
  • 4.Discussion and conclusions
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.23042.sow
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